Question

To store stacks of clean plates, a cafeteria uses a closed cart with a spring-loaded shelf inside. Customers can take plates off the stack one at a time through a hole in the top. A stack of plates compresses the spring 0.40 m. The spring constant is 240 N/m. What is the elastic potential energy of the spring?

Answer 1

Answer:

19.2J

Explanation:

For a string-mass system the elastic potential energy is given by:

$U=\frac{1}{2}kx^2$

k: spring's constant = 240N/m

x: compression = 0.40m

by replacing the values of k and x you obtain:

$U=\frac{1}{2}(240N/m)(0.40m)^2=19.2J$

hence, the elastic potential energy is 19.2J

Answer 2

Answer:

19.2j I took the assessment and got it right :)

Explanation: